“Ziggy Of The Sea” Episode 6 – Hunter Or Hunted

This new YNET episode explores the beauty of the lion fish and the complexity of human perspective with the fish being hunted on one side of the globe while others work to protect and release them when trapped.

The Lionfish is a sophisticated hunter that feeds on little fish by stretching his mouth and swallow them whole. In the red Sea it’s being protected while in the Caribbean Sea it is considered an invasive species and is treated as a villain, but its really not the fish fault since it was us that put it there. It is believed that the first lion fish were introduced in Florida in the 80’s from aquariums and without predator slowly made his way throughout the Caribbean Sea.

It seems easy to forget that the condition of the Caribbean reefs has been drastically degraded many years prior the arrival of the Lionfish by over fishing and over development practices that still continue. The hunting attempts of the lionfish may show efficient on a single patch, a regularly visited dive site, but it does not affect the larger picture. The large communities of Lionfish are keeping away from us, far from our seeing eyes, but they are there. They like to hang out between 150ft – 300ft deep in the Caribbean waters and by now adapted to cold water and can be found in large numbers all along the east coast all the way to New York.